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Moha the almighty camel
Asked: 2013-12-17 03:13:07 +0800 CST

changing /etc/environment did not affect my environment variables

  • 772

I'm trying to install Euler expert system following these instructions. To add the environment variable I edited my /etc/environment to become as follows:

 PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:
/home/mohammad/Desktop/eye"
 EYE_HOME = "/home/mohammad/Desktop/eye"

But when I use printenv PATH I don't see the new directory added to my path.

What am I doing wrong here?

environment-variables

4 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    I don't know the reason why PATH wasn't changed (after relogin), but 

    EYE_HOME = "/home/mohammad/Desktop/eye"
--------^-^

    those spaces prevent EYE_HOME to be set.

    It should be noted that /etc/environment is not a script file, but a kind of assignment file that is read by PAM. OTOH such spaces are not allowed in script files like /etc/profile and ~/.profile either.

    If you use a script file, you need to export the variables as shown in Avinash Raj's answer.

    Please note that while ~/.bashrc works if you start your program from a terminal window, it may not work if you start it from the graphical environment, since it's not sourced by the display manager.

    • 8 
  2. gedit ~/.bashrc

    After that add the below lines,

    export EYE_HOME="/home/mohammad/Desktop/eye"
export PATH=$PATH:$EYE_HOME

    Save the file and sourec it,

    source ~/.bashrc
    • 5

  3. You can try these two files too for system wide configuration:

    • /etc/profile
    • /etc/bashrc

    For user wide configuration:

    • $HOME/.profile
    • $HOME/.bashrc

    Just append the variables as you have done on /etc/environment. But you will have to login and logout (or run the proper reload). Maybe by login and logout /etc/environment would work but I am not sure.

    • 0

  4. You want to edit your .bashrc file in your home directory.

    When you edit the path you should include :$PATH on the end so you don't replace the current path.

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